People

Nov. 1, 2006
NESCO (Canton, Mass.): The company's national accounts division, a supplier of lighting and switchgear products, has named Kelly (Merkel) Carls senior

NESCO (Canton, Mass.): The company's national accounts division, a supplier of lighting and switchgear products, has named Kelly (Merkel) Carls senior account executive for its national accounts division. Carls will be based in Canton and will be focused on growing retail national account business with both existing and target customers. Carls has spent the past five years with GE Supply in various assignments. Most recently, she was in the retail national account business serviced out of GE's Westborough, Mass., facility.

Hunt Electric Supply Co. (Burlington, N.C.): Sam Hunt IV has been named president. He has been with the company since 1997 in various capacities, most recently as chief operations officer. Chris Rierson has been promoted to vice president of the Triad Division, with management responsibilities for the Greensboro, Asheboro and Winston-Salem branches. He was most recently manager of the Greensboro branch.

US Electrical Services LLC (USESI, Exton, Pa.): Jim Facciolo has been appointed executive vice president of the Washington D.C., Virginia and Maryland region of Electrical Wholesalers. Facciolo has more than 22 years experience in the electrical distribution industry. Most recently he was the DC metro area regional manager for Rexel. Prior to that, he was a division president in both New England and Maryland for Branch Electric Supply.

Knaack Manufacturing, a division of Emerson (Crystal Lake, Ill.): Chad Severson has been appointed president. Severson previously served as Knaack's vice president of marketing and product development. Severson has more than 14 years of sales, marketing and product development experience for various industrial, equipment manufacturers and consumer companies selling into a variety of channels. He began his career at Copeland Corp., another Emerson division, where he held sales, marketing and product management positions.

Osram Sylvania (Danvers, Mass): Sol Asmar has been appointed to president of Valeo Sylvania, the 50/50 automotive lighting systems venture between Osram Sylvania and Valeo. Asmar previously held the position of vice president and general manager of Sylvania Lighting Services from 2003 to 2006. In his new role, Asmar will provide strategic management and leadership to optimize operations of the joint venture, and increase business with new and existing customers. Asmar has held numerous positions.

Greenlee, a Textron Co. (Rockford, Ill.): Spring Zhao and Todd Ellerton have been named to product manager positions. Zhao will be responsible for Greenlee's line of electrical test instruments. She has nearly 10 years experience in the electrical field, most recently as a project engineer for the Amerock Corp. Ellerton will be responsible for Greenlee's line of bending, material handling and storage box products. He has 12 years experience in the hardware and tools field, most recently as a senior product manager for the Amerock Corp.

Thomas & Betts Corp. (T&B, Memphis, Tenn.): Christopher Hartmann has been named executive vice president and chief operating officer. Hartmann currently serves as president of the company's electrical business. Hartmann will report to Chairman and Chief Executive Dominic J. Pileggi. He will be responsible for the company's global business operations, including manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution. He will continue to lead the company's electrical business until a successor is named. Hartmann joined T&B in 2003 as president of the company's electrical operations in the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Before joining T&B, he served as president and chief operating officer of Affiliated Distributors. The company also named Imad Hajj to the newly created position of chief development officer. One of Hajj's major responsibilities will be to lead the company's merger and acquisition activities. Hajj has more than 20 years experience at T&B.

Berk-Tek, a Nexans Co. (New Holland, Pa.): Beau Gabriel has been appointed a regional sales manager, central region. Before joining Berk-Tek, Gabriel spent 10 years at FCI USA Inc., most recently as senior account/territory manager.

Summit Electric Supply (Albuquerque, N.M.): Russ Hiller has been named to the executive team as chief accounting officer/treasurer. His previous title was corporate controller. Hiller is a certified public accountant accredited in business valuation. He had 10 years of public accounting experience before joining Summit in February 2005. Summit Electric Supply will open two new service centers in Florida: one in Orlando and one in Jacksonville. Although the new Florida branches will not open for several months, Summit Electric has named the branch managers. Harvey Neeley will be the service center leader in Orlando. He brings 40 years of experience, 24 years with Rexel. He most recently led a Hughes Supply branch in Orlando, Fla. John Truss, also a Hughes Supply veteran, will lead Summit's Jacksonville service center. He spent nine years with Hughes after a 14-year career as an engineer for Reliance Electric, a manufacturer of industrial automation components.

SLI Lighting (Mullins, S.C.): Frederick “Fred” Engel has been named the new president of U.S. Distribution. In his new role, Engel will lead the company's North American initiatives. Engel joins SLI after spending the past eight years heading up his own consulting firm, Fred Engel International Consultancy.

ILSCO Corp. (Cincinnati): Joseph T. Avanzato has been appointed southern regional manager for ILSCO and UTILCO. Avanzato comes to ILSCO with 30 years industry experience. His experience includes both regional and national account management as well as a background in marketing. Avanzato will be responsible for the development of both the ILSCO and UTILCO business east of and including Louisiana and Arkansas; and south of and including Kentucky and Virginia.

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA, Rosslyn, Va.): NEMA has announced three appointments. Mark R. Tibbetts has been appointed to the new position of director of business development to build a more systematic approach to creating new business opportunities for the association and its members. Joel Saltzman joins NEMA as its new senior manager of government relations. Saltzman's experience includes four years as counsel to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, trial and advisory work at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and more than 10 years as a lobbyist at the American Petroleum Institute. Francine Meyer has been appointed meeting planner. In this newly created position, she will be responsible for planning NEMA's Annual Meeting and Leadership Conference and for coordinating other external meetings.

Granite City Electric Supply Co. (Quincy, Mass.): The company has promoted several employees to assist in the company's continued growth. Paul Knox recently assumed the position of vice president of sales. Knox will develop and execute strategic sales plans and tools to drive the training and advancement of Granite City Electric's sales team. George McDonald has been promoted to vice president of operations. McDonald will be responsible for innovating and communicating the company's efficiencies, best practices, corporate-wide purchasing and costing strategies in order to capture market share and maximize gross profit. Gregory Smith has been appointed director of corporate development. He will plan the company's strategic development, future acquisitions and new branch openings as well as explore latest product/service opportunities for new market exposure. He will continue the development of the company's latest specialized group, the Technologies Division. Other managers who were promoted are: Tom Rothfuss, regional sales manager — Boston; Bill Raney, regional sales manager — North region; Steve Hannagan, regional sales manager — West region; and Steve Riley will spearhead the showroom division.

Kitco Fiber Optics (Virginia Beach, Va.): Kevin P. Marcondes has been appointed operations manager. Marcondes joined Kitco in 2005 and previously served as the company's buyer. Les Shutts has been named OEM manager. With more than 15 years of experience, prior appointments include OEM sales manager and engineering manager for Paladin Tools and electronic engineering designer at Weidmüller Inc.